The Lost Hero

Chapter 8

"Found a ride!" Leo beamed. "You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride. Well, we got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere! We fixed him up!"

"It—has wings," Nyssa stammered. Her jaw looked like it might drop off her face.

"Yeah!" Vivian beamed. " We found them and reattached them."

"But it never had wings. Where did you find them?"

Leo hesitated, but Vivian jumped in saving him. "We found them in the woods. Piper could tell they were hiding something. "Repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire."

"Mostly?" Nyssa asked.

The dragon's head twitched. It tilted to one side and a stream of black liquid—maybe oil, hopefully just oil—poured out of its ear, all over Leo.

"Just a few kinks to work out," Leo said.

"But how did you survive ... ?" Nyssa was still staring at the creature in awe. "Imean, the fire breath ..."

"I'm quick," Leo said. "And lucky. Now, am I on this quest, or what?"

"I'm also a fire user, remember?" I reminded her.

Jason scratched his head. "You named him Festus? You know that in Latin, 'festus' means 'happy'? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?"

The dragon twitched and shuddered and flapped his wings.

"That's a yes, bro!" Leo said. "Now, um, I'd really suggest we get going, guys. I already picked up some supplies in the —um, in the woods. And all these people with weapons are making Festus nervous."

Jason frowned. "But we haven't planned anything yet. We can't just—"

"Go," Annabeth said. She was the only one who didn't look nervous at all. Her expression was sad and wistful, like this reminded her of better times. "Jason, you've only got three days until the solstice now, and you should never keep a nervous dragon waiting. This is certainly a good omen. Go!"

Jason nodded. Then he smiled at Piper. "You ready, partner?"

Piper looked at the bronze dragon wings shining against the sky, and those talons that could've shredded her to pieces. "You bet," she said.

Flying on the dragon was the most amazing experience ever, Vivian thought.

Up high, the air was freezing cold; but the dragon's metal hide generated so much heat, it was like they were flying in a protective bubble. Talk about seat warmers! And the grooves in the dragon's back were designed like high-tech saddles, so they weren't uncomfortable at all. Leo and Vivian showed them how to hook their feet in the chinks of the armor, like in stirrups, and use the leather safety harnesses cleverly concealed under the exterior plating. They sat in a single file: Leo in front, then Vivian, then Piper, then Jason.

Leo used the reins to steer the dragon into the sky like he'd been doing it all his life. The metal wings worked perfectly, and soon the coast of Long Island was just a hazy line behind them. They shot over Connecticut and climbed into the gray winter clouds.

Leo grinned back at them. "Cool, right?"

"What if we get spotted?" Piper asked.

"The Mist," Jason said. "It keeps mortals from seeing magic things. If they spot us, they'll probably mistake us for a small plane or something."

Piper glanced over her shoulder. "You sure about that?"

"No," he admitted.

"But I can!" Vivian says. She snapped her fingers. "Now the mortals will think that we are just a cloud. My friend Thalia Grace taught me."

"Nice!" Leo said.

"Where are we heading?" Piper asked.

"To find the god of the North Wind," Jason said. "And chase some storm spirits."